Box corner



March 11 1924..

' FK [l (IFLCE BOX CORNER Filed March 5, 1923 Patented Mar. ll, i924.

PETER CRAIG, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

B923; CORNER.

.application led March 3, 1923. Serial No. 622,@77.

To all whom z't may concern.' Be it known that I, PETER D. CRAIG, a citizen ot' the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Iliinois, have invented a certain new 'and useful Improvement in Box Corners. of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the method of making boxes and to box corners employed l@ in such method. One of the objects of the invention is to provide a metallic box corner which may be shipped in the flat, and which is so formed that when itu is to be used and the user applies bending strains to it, it will l@ itself define the lines of bend. In other words, it is my purpose to provide a plate which the operator may bend when he is ready to use, and which will assist him in bending along the proper lines so that it El@ Vwill locate itself properly on the box when it is being applied thereto. In practice, the box walls are slotted at certain distances from the cornerv for receiving Vthe tongues of the plate and the plate is weakened at M certain points so that the plate will naturally bend alongthe correct lines and thus when applied to the box will bring the tongues into register with the slots. Another object of the invention is to provide a a method of making boxes in which a plate having the above described characteristics may be employed.

I obtain my objects by the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings a in which- Figure l is a perspective view of a box embodying my invention.

FigureV 2 is a plan section on the line 2 2, Figure l. t0 f Figure Sis a face view of the metallic race or corner after it has been blanked out; and Figure 4 is a fragmentary view showing the box blank in flat condition and the box corner also in iiat condition, except that the a5 tongues at one end have been inserted into the proper box wall and clinchedV over. This ligure illustrates, among other things, that the line of weakening of the plate registers with' the box corner and consequently will bend in the right'. place when the parts are assembled.

Figure 5 shows a modilied Jforni in which .the Vplate is creased as well as weakened.

Like numerals denote like parte throughout the several views.

This invention is intended. primarily for boxes made of so-called fiber or ibrous material which includes paper-board, tiberboard, and similar material, which is bendable to a certain extentand is employed among other things for making cartons, boxes and other containers for shipping purposes and the like. So-called ccorrugated sheets are also frequently employed for the purpose, and I shall employ the term brous material as including any and all of the sheets of this or analogous material. It will be understood that such sheets can be cut and slotted for the production of blanks and can be bent at right angles so as to configurate the rectangular boxes and containers.

In practicing my invention I first produce a box blank by taking a sheet l of such ibrous material and cutting away the corners as, for example, at the point 2 in Figure 4:. By making a rectangular cutout as illustrated,

the marginal portions 4l of the blank may be bent at right angles to the body of the sheet to form either a box or a box cover. The terms box and boxcover are practically synonymous for it will be understood that two interiitting covers may themselves make a box or container. Forthe sake of clearness I have illustrated my invention as applied to a box cover and am omitting a ldescription of the formation of the lower portion 6 of the container illustrated in Figure 1. It will be understood, of course, that in practice some means are provided for holding the walls of the lower section together, but I have omitted to illustrate such means in order more clearly to distinguish my invention. It may be said, however, thatl my invention may be applied to the body of the box as well as to the cover.

In a deinite position on the flanges or side walls of the cover I form slots 7. These maybe short or long, or single or multiple,

.depending upon the form of plate or box corner which is to be employed and which I will now describe.

rl`he corner plate or box corner is shown in blank inv Figure 3 `in'vvhich 8 represents the body of the plate. It is of bendable sheet metal, by which I mean metal which may be bent (for example, by the hands of the user) and when bent will maintain the configuration to which it is brought. In other words, the metal is not resilient in the sense ot' being able to spring back to its original form after the pressure exerted by the operator is released.

At the ends of the plate are tongues 10 which may be broad or narrow, singleV or multiple, depending upon the slots 7 into which they are to be inserted. At the base of these tongues a portion of the metal is cut away to weaken the plate at that point. In the illustrated form, Figure 3, the metal is weakened by apertures 12; hence the line of bend will be coincident with the dotted lines ll shown in Figure 3. Between the ends of the plate, usually about the middle, a portion of the metal is cut away to weaken it and thus define a line of bend to corre- .spond to the corner of the box when the Adotted line 19, Figure 3.

In practice both the box blank and plate are shipped in the flat. Then the operator is ready to form the container he bends up the marginal portions ot' the iiber sheet 1 to form side walls l. This brings the adjacent ends of the side walls into contiguity as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2. The operator then bends the tongues l0 at right angles `to the plate and bends the two sections of the body of the plate at right angles along the center line 19 whereupon he is by slight manipulation, able to insert the tonguesv into the slots 7. The parts will nov' fit because the blanking of the fibrous sheet is done accurately by machine and the blanking ot' the strip is also done accurately by machine (speaking in accordance with usual commercial practice) and as the slots T are in definite position and the corner plate will bend along deiinite lines, it follows that the operator will not have to exercise any particular care in making the bends. They will automatically come at the proper positions.

' After the tongues have been inserted into the slots 7 they may be clinched over onthe Vinside as shown at 2O Figure 2. rThis produces a structure which is most rigid and secure, and which presents a neat appearance as will be evident by reference to Figure 1.

It will be understood that the method of assembling the parts after they are 'formed may be varied, and it is possible to proceed in the manner illustrated in Figure i, in whichthe tongues 10 will be inserted into one of the side walls, and the tongues clinched over at the factory. The parts can then be shipped in the flat, but with the plate attached at one end to one of the side walls. ln this case the bending of one set oi tongues will have been already accomplished. The operator will merely have to bend the other elements to carry out the principle oit the invention. This has one advantage, viz., that the boxes will always be accompanied by the correct number ot' corner plates and a portion of the work will have been done at the factory. @n the other hand, these plates sometimes become damaged in shipment when they are thus assembled beforehand and some customers preterto have the fibrous sheets and the plates shipped separately.

lfn Figure 5 l have shown an additional characteristic according` to which the plate in addition to the notches and apertures has a center crease 22 and also end creases 24: at the base of the tongues. These creases make it still easier it'or the operator to cause the plate to bend at exactly the proper pointin iact, the creases themselves may be regarded as incipient bends which the operator completes when he applies the plate to the box.

It will be evident that my device is not only strong and durable when assembled, but that it presents a neat appearance and is readily applied without the laid of any special tools.

Having thus described my invention, what l claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A box construction in which the box walls are of fibrous material and have slots formed in them near the corners, and a metallic corner plate adapted to pass around the corner ot' the box and having tongues at the ends adapted to penetrate the slots in the box walls for holding them in position, the metal being partially cut away between the ends of the plate and at the base of the tongues for thus defining the lines or bend and causing the plate to be self adjusting in the sense of bringing the tongues into register with the 'slots when the parts are assembled.

2. The method of making boxes consisting in cutting out the corners of a sheet of iibrous material, bending the sheet to produceV a top or bottom to the box `and side walls whose adjacent edges are contiguous, slotting the side walls at a definite distance from the corners of the box, blanking out a plate of bendable metal with tongues at the ends for penetrating the slots, cutting away a portion ot the metal at the base .ofV

the tongues and also at a point approximately midway between the ends of the plate and then bending it along` the lines where the same is weakened, and inserting the bent tongues into the slots for holding the walls together,

3. A plate for securing box walls together at the corners, said plate consisting of bendable metal and having tongues projecting et the ends for insertion into slots in the Walls of the box, the plat/e bein weakened by removal of a part of the meta at the base of the tongues end neer the middle of the plate, the plete also being creased at the middle and at the base of the tongues to assisI the operator to cause the completed bends so come at the corr-ect points on 1she plete.

1n Witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my neme.

PETER D. CRAG. 

